Ex-Freeport Principal Charged With Lying to Get Job

A former Freeport school principal accused of having sex with a 16-year-old boy has been indicted on new charges that he lied on paperwork to get that job, Nassau County prosecutors said.

John O’Mard was arraigned Tuesday on charges of criminal sexual act, offering a false instrument for filing, defrauding the government, perjury, making an apparently sworn false statement and official misconduct.

The 45-year-old Freeport man allegedly met the victim through Grindr, a smartphone dating application for men, and brought the teen to his house where they had a sexual encounter in September 2012, police have said.

The victim was enrolled in the school while but it wasn’t until shortly after they met that he realized that it was his ex-principal, Special Victims Squad detectives have said.

The new charges stem from allegations that O’Mard, who served as the middle school’s principal for approximately 10 years, lying on paperwork submitted to the New York State Education Department for certification in 2004 and 2006.

Judge Angelo Delligatti set his bail at $15,000 cash or bond.

The Freeport School District reassigned O’Mard after the initial charges were filed in March and later reportedly fired him.

Timothy Bolger is the Editor in Chief of the Long Island Press who’s been working to uncover unreported stories since shortly after it launched in 2003. When he’s not editing, getting hassled by The Man or fielding cold calls to the newsroom, he covers crime, general interest and political news in addition to reporting longer, sometimes investigative features. He won’t be happy until everyone is as pissed off as he is about how screwed up Lawn Guyland is.